Lauryn Hill’s Cover Of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ Shines
Over the course of her career, musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone recorded 40 masterclass albums that touched on elements of classical, jazz and R&B genres. It would be impossible to reduce her impact to a handful of songs on a single tribute album, but Lauryn Hill has given it her very, very best shot.
Ahead of upcoming Netflix documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? and tribute album Nina Revisited, Hill — who has six tracks featured on the latter — left Simone fans speechless this morning when her rendition of "Feeling Good" was featured on RollingStone.com. Simone originally recorded the tune in 1965.
Without the help of a single instrument, Hill dives into the bluesy number above with thick, heavy breath until she's joined by the song's signature staccato piano and brass undertones. "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me / And I'm feeling good," she declares without apology.
"Because I fed on this music, both hers and lovers like her, like my basic food, I believed I always had a right to have a voice," Hill said in a statement according to Rolling Stone.
Earlier this month, Hill and Jazmine Sullivan joined forces for a Simone tribute set at New York City's Apollo Theater, where the two wowed a crowd with renditions of "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and "Baltimore," among others. "Thank you, Nina Simone, for existing, and being bold enough to speak," Hill shared at the show's close, according to BET.
What do you think of Hill's "Feeling Good" rendition? Be sure to tune in to What Happened, Miss Simone? on Netflix on June 26, and pick up a copy of Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone on July 10.
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